Excrement Detection Sensor

ABSTRACT

An excrement detection sensor in which two pairs of conductors  1, 2  and  3, 4  are formed between a carrier body  6  and a coating body  7  both having water-proof property and insulating property, wherein the cover body is formed with an urine introduction port  8  correlating the paired conductors and with a faeces introduction port  9  correlating the other paired conductors, and when urine enters into the urine introduction ports, the one pair of the conductors are short-circuited and when faeces enters into the faeces introduction ports, the other one pair of the conductors are short-circuited, whereby the urination and the evacuation can be distinctively detected.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an excrement detection sensor fordetecting urination and faeces.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, there is known a water content detection sensor for detectingpresence or generation of water content at a time when the water contentor water adheres between electrodes, and then, electric current passes(for example, refer to Patent Literature 1, 2, 3). Such water contentdetection sensors are utilized for an excrement receiver, a diaper andso on, and when the water content adheres between the electrodes by theurination, for example, the electrodes are short-circuited and theurination is thereby detected.

Moreover, there is also known an urine-gathering system in which theurine is received by an excrement receiver or a saucer inserted in adiaper, and the urine received in the saucer is sucked by a vacuum pumpevery time when the urination is detected(for example, refer to PatentLiterature 4).

Patent Literature 1: JP-63-290950

Patent Literature 2: JP-2000-19136

Patent Literature 3: JP-2002-82080

Patent Literature 4: JP-2004-267517

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

As the conventional water content detection sensor is provided with onlya pair of electrodes, it is difficult to discriminate whether either oneof evacuation or urination is detected. In the use of such conventionalwater content detection sensor for the excrement receiver or diaper ofthe type of recovering the urine by the saucer, the vacuum pump isoperated at the time of detecting the evacuation, and in such a case,there may cause clogging of a tube or vacuum pump with a solid componentof the evacuation, which may result in difficulty of recovering theurine.

In addition, in the conventional water content detection sensor, anelectrical potential is caused between electrodes, and when an electriccurrent passes between the electrodes by the adhesion of the watercontent therebetween, a signal announcing the generation of theurination is merely outputted, so that it is difficult to discriminatequality or condition of the electrodes themselves. Because of thisreason, there may cause a case such that no signal is generated due todefect of the electrodes in spite of the adhesion of the water contentbetween the electrodes, and hence, the generation of the urination orpresence of the urine cannot be detected, thus being inconvenient.

Furthermore, when the conventional water content detection sensor isutilized for the detection of the urination in the diaper, if theurination is detected at plural times, resistances may be changed astime elapses, which may result in erroneous operation of the detectionsensor.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to substantiallyeliminate defects or drawbacks encountered in the prior art mentionedabove and is to provide an excrement detection sensor capable of exactlydetecting the generation of the excrement.

Means for Solving the Problems

The above and other objects can be achieved according to the presentinvention by providing an excrement detection sensor comprising:

two pairs of conductors (1,2,3,4) extending in parallel with each other;

a carrier body (6) on which the conductors are formed; and

a coating body (7) covering the conductors with the conductors beingdisposed between the carrier body (6) and the coating body,

wherein either one of the carrier body and the coating body (7) isformed with urine introduction ports (8) correlating at least one pairof conductors (1,2) and faeces introduction ports (9) correlatinganother one pair of conductors (3,4), in which when urine enters intothe urine introduction ports (8), the one pair of the conductors (1,2)are short-circuited and when faeces enters into the faeces introductionports (9), the another one pair of the conductors (3,4) areshort-circuited.

In preferred embodiments, the following subject features may beattained.

That is, either one or another pair of conductors (1,2) may be connectedthrough a high resistance conductor (14) having a resistance larger thanthat of the paired conductors (1,2).

An urine passing hole (15) may be formed so as to penetrate the carrierbody (6) and the coating body (7).

The conductors (1,2,3,4,14) may be printed on the carrier body (6), andthe coating body (7) is printed so as to cover the printed conductors.

The conductors (1,2,3,4,14) may be printed with conductive ink includingconductive carbon. The conductors (1,2,3,4) are printed with conductiveink including conductive carbon of an amount larger than that includedin the conductive ink of the high resistance conductor (14).

The carrier body (6) or coating body (7) formed with the urineintroduction ports (8) may be formed as a lamination body composed ofprinting ink layers including at least one layer (7 b) formed of urineresist ink. The lamination body may include at least one layer (7 a) ofsolvent resist ink disposed between the urine resist ink layer (7 b) andthe conductors (1,2,3,4,14). The urine resist ink may be an urethanecombined ink of polyester polyal and isocyanate or a UV hardened resinink. The solvent resist ink may be polyester resin ink.

The conductors (1,2,3,4,14) may be printed with conductive ink includingonly of conductive carbon as conductive material.

Effects of the Invention

According to the excrement detection sensor of the present invention ofthe characters mentioned above, The two pairs of conductors (1,2,3,4)are formed between a carrier body (6) and a coating body (7) both havingwater-proof property and insulating property, wherein the coating body(7) or carrier body (6) is formed with an urine introduction port (8)correlating the paired conductors (1,2) and with a faeces introductionport (9) correlating the other paired conductors (3,4), and when urineenters into the urine introduction ports (8), the one pair of theconductors (1,2) are short-circuited and when faeces enters into thefaeces introduction ports (9), the other one pair of the conductors(3,4) are short-circuited, whereby the urination and the evacuation canbe distinctively detected. Therefore, even in a case where the excrementdetection sensor is applied to an excrement receiver (17) for recoveringthe urine by using a saucer (16) or to a diaper, the clogging, due tothe faeces, of the tube (18) of a suction machine such as vacuum pumpfor recovering the urine can be effectively prevented, and hence, theurine can be recovered in plural times.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, when the pairedconductors (1,2) are connected through a high resistance conductor (14)having a resistance higher than that of the paired conductors, anelectric current passes between the conductors (1,2) through the highresistance conductor (14), so that the quality of the conductors (1,2)can be confirmed and the urination and evacuation can be thereby exactlydetected.

In addition, according to the present invention, the coating body (7) orcarrier body (6) to which the urine introduction ports (8) and thefaeces introduction ports (9) are formed is formed as a lamination bodyof printed ink layers, and at least one (7 b) of the layers is formed ofan urine resist ink. In such case, if a plurality of urinations aredetected, the resistances of the conductors (1,2,3,4,14) do not change.Therefore, the generation of the urination can be exactly detected at aplurality of times.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustrated front view of an excrement detection sensoraccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustrated rear view of the excrement detection sensor ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a circuit portion;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a circuit portion of an excrement detectionsensor according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a circuit portion of an excrement detectionsensor according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view, like FIG. 4, of an excrement detectionsensor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view, like FIG. 5, of an excrement detectionsensor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a conceptual view showing a used example of the excrementdetection sensor according to the present invention.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERAL

1,2,3,4 . . . conductor, 5 . . . excrement detection sensor, 6. . .carrier body, 7 . . . coating body, 7 a . . . solvent resist ink layer,7 b . . . urine resist ink layer, 8 . . . urine introduction port, 9 . .. faeces introduction port, 14 . . . high resistance conductor, 15 . . .urine passing hole

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereunder, a best mode for embodying the invention will be explainedwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, in an excrement detection sensor 5 ofthis embodiment, two pairs of conductors 1, 2 and 3, 4 extending inparallel are sandwiched between a carrier body 6 and a coating body 7,both having water-proof property and insulating property. The coatingbody 7 is formed with an urine introduction port 8 correlating at leastone pair of conductors 1 and 2, and a faeces introduction port 9correlating the other pair of conductors 3 and 4, and when the urine Aenters into the urine introduction port 8, the one pair of conductors 1and 2 is short-circuited, and on the other hand, when the faeces Benters into the faeces introduction port 9, the other pair of conductors3 and 4 are short-circuited.

The carrier body 6 carries the entire structure of the excrementdetection sensor 5 of this embodiment and has a belt-like shape which isbendable or flexible. The carrier body 6 has, for example, a lengthslightly longer than a length of crotch height of a human body. Thecarrier body 6 has a water-proof property and electrically insulatingproperty. In order to confirm the quality of the circuit portion such asconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4, it is desired that the carrier body 6 istransparent. The carrier body 6 is formed from a biaxial orientated filmof polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyester,polyamide, polyimide, polyamideimide, polycarbonate, polystyrene, or thelike. The carrier body 6 has a thickness of, preferably, 30 μm to 300μm, and more preferably, 50μm to 100 μm. It may be possible for thecarrier body to be formed of an opaque material, but it may be desiredto be formed from a transparent or translucent material.

A positioning hole 12 for connecting the carrier body 6 to a connector11 shown in FIG. 10 is formed, as occasion demands, to a base end of thecarrier body 6. A cutout 13 and/or marker 30 may be provided, asoccasion demands, for discriminating or showing positional relationshipbetween the excrement detection sensor 5 and the connector 11.

The two pairs of conductors 1, 2 and 3, 4 mentioned above haverelatively low-resistance and extend along both side edges of thebelt-shaped carrier body 6. In these conductors, an inside pair ofconductors 1 and 2 are utilized for detecting urination and an outsidepair of conductors 3 and 4 are utilized for detecting evacuation.Terminal portions 1 a, 2 a and 3 a, 4 a, each having a relatively largearea, are formed to base ends of the two paired conductors 1, 2 and 3, 4so as to be connected to the connector 11. Expanded portions 3 b and 4 bare also formed to tail ends opposing to the base ends connecting theconnector 11 of the conductors 3 and 4 for detecting the evacuation.These expanded portion 3 b and 4 b are formed to the tail end of thecarrier body 6, but the tail ends of the conductors 1 and 2 fordetecting the urination are ended at portions near the base end sideother than the expanded portions 3 b and 4 b. of the conductors 3 and 4for detecting the evacuation. That is, the tail ends of the conductors 1and 2 for detecting the urination and their neighbouring portions, andthe expanded portions 3 b and 4 b of the conductors 3 and 4 fordetecting the evacuation correspond, respectively, to urination portionand evacuation portion of a human body.

The conductors 1, 2, 3 and 4 inclusive of the terminal portions 1 a, 2a, 3 a and 4 a and the expanded portions 3 b and 4 b are formed byprinting conductive ink on the carrier body 6. The conductive ink isprepared by kneading a binder, conductive metal powder and a filler. Assuch binder, there is used polyvinyl chloride group resin, polyacrylicgroup resin, epoxy group resin, polyester group resin, polyacrylicurethane group resin, polyolefin group resin, polyurethane group resin,phenol group resin or the like. As such conductive metal powder, thereis used silver, gold, copper, nickel, aluminium, conductive carbon orthe like. As such filler, there is used a viscosity controlling agent,dispersant or the like. The conductive ink is coated, in fine beltshape, on the carrier body 6 through screen printing, direct gravureprinting, flexographic printing or like printing to thereby form theconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The conductors 1 and 2 for detecting the urination are printed with, forexample, a width of 1.5 mm and a thickness of 10 μm, preferably, 5 to 30μm. On the other hand, the conductors 3 and 4 for detecting theevacuation are printed with, for example, a width of 0.5 mm and athickness of 10 μm, preferably, 5 to 30 μm. These conductors 1, 2, 3 and4 have relatively low resistance, and the resistance is set preferably,for example, to 0 to 200 kΩ, and more preferably, less than 100 kΩ, byadjusting the content of the conductive metal powder in the conductiveink. In this first embodiment the resistance is about 100 kΩ.

The paired conductors 1 and 2 for detecting the urination are connectedtogether through a high resistance conductor 14 having a resistancelarger than that of the conductors 1 and 2. The resistance of the highresistance conductor 14 may be set preferably to 1MΩ to 10MΩ, and morepreferably, to 2MΩ to 6MΩ.

This high resistance conductor 14 is disposed so as to extend alonginside the respective conductors 1 and 2. That is, the high resistanceconductor 14 first extends from the tail end of the conductor 1 towardthe base end thereof, and on the way, extends toward the other conductor2 and then extends toward the tail end thereof along the conductor 2. Asa result, the high resistance conductor 14 and the paired conductors 1and 2 constitute a single conductor on the carrier body 6, and when apotential difference is caused between the terminals 1 a and 2 a of thepaired conductors 1 and 2, and electric current of a constant amountpasses.

The high resistance conductor 14 is printed through a printing method aslike as that mentioned with respect to the printing of the conductors 1and 2 with a conductive ink having the component similar to that for theconductors 1 and 2. However, the high resistance conductor 14 has lessamount of the conductive metal powder of the conductive ink, and as aresult, the resistance of the high resistance conductor 14 is set toabout several MΩ, for example, which is larger than that of theconductors 1 and 2. In addition, the high resistance conductor has afine thickness, for example of about 0.5 mm, less than that of theconductors 1 and 2 for easy visual confirmation thereof.

The coating body 7 is applied in layer on substantially the entiresurface of the carrier body 6, above the conductors 1 and 2 and the highresistance conductor 14, except the portions of the terminals 1 a, 2 a,3 a and 4 a and various introduction holes 8 and 9 mentionedhereinafter. The coating body 7 serves to electrically insulate theconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4, the high resistance conductor 14, and expandedportions 3 b and 4 b together with the carrier body 6 from the externalportion.

Specifically, the coating body 7 is formed with a printing ink. Theprinting ink is prepared by kneading a binder, a pigment and a filler.As the binder, there is used polyvinyl chloride group resin, polyacrylicgroup resin, epoxy group resin, polyester group resin, polyacrylicurethane group resin, polyolefin group resin, polyurethane group resin,phenol group resin or the like. Further, as such binder,urethane-combined polyester polyal and isocyanate, or UV hardened resinmay be utilized. As the pigment, there may be used, for example, a whitepigment for clearly distinguishing it from the carrier body 6, theconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the high resistance conductor 14. As thefiller, there is used a viscosity controlling agent, dispersant or thelike. This printing ink is coated on the carrier body 6 and theconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4 exclusive of predetermined portions such asterminal portions 1 a, 2 a, 3 a and 4 a through screen printing, directgravure printing, or like printing to thereby form the coating body 7.

This coating body 7 attains function of insulating film and water-prooffilm.

The coating body 7 is formed with an urine introduction port 8 forintroducing the urine by locally exposing the paired conductor 1 and 2for the urination detection. The four urine introduction ports 8 areformed at the terminal portions, or near, of the conductors 1 and 2 forthe urination detection such that respectively two ports are formedlaterally symmetrically on both sides of the carrier body 6 with thelongitudinal center line thereof being symmetry axis. Of course, less ormore number of the urine introduction ports 8 may be adopted. Thepositions of the urine introduction ports 8 correspond to urinationportion of a human body or near.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the urine A adheres to the conductors 1 and 2so as to straddle the urine introduction port 8, the conductors 1 and 2are short-circuited and then electric current passes. This current has avalue larger than that in the case of no short-circuit, whereby thedischarge of the urine A (i.e., urination) can be detected.

Furthermore, the coating body 7 is formed with a faeces introductionport 9 for introducing the faeces by locally exposing the pairedconductors 3 and 4 for the faeces detection. The two faeces introductionports 9 are formed at the expanded portions 3 b and 4 b of theconductors 3 and 4 for the faeces detection such that respectively oneport 9 is formed laterally symmetrically on both sides of the carrierbody 6 with the longitudinal center line thereof being symmetry axis. Ofcourse, more number of the faeces introduction ports 9 may be adopted.The positions of the faeces introduction ports 9 correspond toevacuation portion of a human body or near.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the faeces B adheres to the conductors 3 and 4so as to straddle the faeces introduction port 9, the conductors 3 and 4are short-circuited and then electric current passes, whereby thedischarge of the faeces B (i.e., evacuation) can be detected.

These urine introduction ports 8 and the faeces introduction ports 9 areformed by being printed as non-printed portions at the same time as theprinting time of the coating body 7. By forming the coating body 7 bythe printing operation, the urine introduction ports 8 and the faecesintroduction ports 9 can be precisely formed at small sizes. In theillustrated embodiment, although these ports 8 and 9 have rectangularshapes, they may be formed so as to provide circular shapes, ellipticalshapes, square shapes and the like as occasion demands.

The carrier body 6 is also formed with an urine passing hole 15 so as topenetrate the carrier body 6 in its thickness direction. In theillustrated embodiment, the urine passing hole 15 is punched to portionsbetween parallelly extending of the high resistance conductor 14 of thecarrier body 6. More specifically, two urine passing holes 15, eachhaving a rectangular shape, are disposed in parallel, with a connectionportion 6 a remaining, in the longitudinal direction of the carrier body6. The urine passing hole 15 may be composed of an aggregation of anumber of small holes or formed with various shapes or modes. Accordingto this structure, the urine discharged from the human body passesthrough the carrier body 6 from the front surface side to the rearsurface side and then received by a receiving saucer 16, mentionedherein later. The urine passing hole 15 may be formed, for example,through a punching process after the printing of the conductors 1, 2, 3and 4, and the coating body 7.

Hereunder, the operation of the excrement detection sensor of the aboveembodiment will be described.

Since the conductors 1, 2, 3 and 4, the high resistance conductor 14 andthe coating body 7 of the excrement detection sensor 5 are formed on thetransparent film by being printed with inks having different colors, thepresence or absence of disconnection (break of wire) of the conductors1, 2, 3 and 4 and the presence or absence of defect of the coating body7 can be also visually confirmed, thus simplifying the selection ofquality of the excrement detection sensor 5 as a product.

The excrement detection sensor 5 is used, as shown in FIG. 10, in astate of being sandwiched between various laminated sheets of non-wovenfabric of a pad-shaped excrement receiver 17. In FIG. 10, referencenumeral 17 a denotes a portion receiving urine of the excrement receiver17, and reference numeral 17 b is a portion for receiving evacuation.The urine introduction port 8 of the excrement detection sensor 5 ispositioned directly below the urine receiving portion 17 a, and thefaeces introduction port 9 of the excrement detection sensor 5 ispositioned directly below the faeces receiving portion 17 b.

Further, the urine receiving saucer 16 is disposed below the excrementdetection sensor 5 at the urine receiving portion 17 a in the excrementreceiver 17. The saucer 16 is connected to a suction machine 19 such asvacuum pump through the tube 18, and the urine in the saucer 16 isdelivered to the tank 20 by means of the suction machine 19.

Furthermore, a bag portion 21, for example, as sectioning means, forsectioning the urine receiving portion 17 a and the faeces receivingportion 17 b is formed to the excrement receiver 17. The bag portion 21is formed by covering a sheet formed of non-woven fabric from the faecesreceiving portion 17 b to a rear half portion of the urine receivingportion 17 a and heat-sealing it on a seal line 21 a. By the presence ofthe bag portion 21, the urine can be prevented from entering into thefaeces receiving portion 17 b and the faeces can be prevented frommoving to the urine receiving portion 17 a.

The excrement receiver 17 is detachably mounted to a diaper, not shown,and is applied to a groin of a human body through the diaper.

The connector 11 electrically connected to a controller 22 is connecteddetachably to the base end portion of the excrement detection sensor 5.The connector 11 is accurately mated in position with the excrementdetection sensor 5 by utilizing the positioning hole 12 and the cutout13 formed to the base end portion of the excrement detection sensor 5,and on the other hand, the terminals 1 a, 2 a, 3 a and 4 a of theexcrement detection sensor 5 are electrically connected to theterminals, not shown, on the connector side.

The controller 22 processes by using a CPU, not shown, a signal sentfrom the excrement detection sensor 5 and then generates varioussignals. The controller 22 applies a voltage between the terminals laand 2 a of the paired conductors 1 and 2, and when a constant amount ofcurrent passes to the conductors 1 and 2 through the high resistanceconductor 14, it is judged that the conductors 1 and 2 include nodisconnection and are normal. On the contrary, when the constant amountof current does not pass between the conductors 1 and 2, it is judgedthat the conductors 1 and 2 are disconnected and an alarm is generated.

When a person wearing a diaper discharges urine, the urine infiltratesan urine receiving portion of the excrement receiver 17, and then,penetrates on the excrement detection sensor side. Thereafter, the urineinvades into the urine introduction port 8 in contact to the surface ofthe excrement detection sensor 5 as shown in FIG. 4 to therebyshort-circuit the paired conductors 1 and 2. According to thisshort-circuit, a signal indicating the generation of urination isgenerated from the excrement detection sensor 5 to the controller 22,which then operates the suction machine 19, and as occasion demands, analarm, not shown, is operated. The urine passes through the urinepassing hole 15 of the excrement detection sensor 5, is received by thesaucer 16 and delivered to the tank 20 from the suction machine 19.

When a person wearing the diaper discharge faeces, the water content ofthe faeces infiltrate the faeces receiving portion 17 b of the excrementreceiver 17 and penetrates it on the excrement detection sensor side.Thereafter, the water content invades into the faeces introduction port9 in contact to the surface of the excrement detection sensor 5 as shownin FIG. 5 to thereby short-circuit the other paired conductors 3 and 4.According to this short-circuit, a signal indicating the generation ofevacuation is generated from the excrement detection sensor 5 to thecontroller 22, which then operates an alarm, not shown, to announce thegeneration of the evacuation.

Second Embodiment

In this second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, a high resistanceconductor 25 in the circuit portion of the excrement detection sensor 23is made short in comparison with that of the first embodiment. That is,the high resistance conductor 25 is connected, at its one end, to thetail end of one of the conductors 1, extends along this conductor 1 toits base end side, passes, on the way of the extension, the connectionportion 6 a between the urine passing holes 15, 15 of the carrier body6, extends toward the other conductor 2, and then is connected to thetail end of the conductor 2.

Further, in this second embodiment, the same reference numerals areadded to members or elements corresponding to those in the firstembodiment and duplicated explanation is omitted herein.

Third Embodiment

In this third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a high resistanceconductor 27 connecting the urine detection conductors 1 and 2 of anexcrement detection sensor 26 is made further short in comparison withthat of the second embodiment so as to extend linearly between twoconductors 1 and 2 in the width direction of the carrier body 6.

In addition, another high resistance conductor 28 is arranged betweenthe other paired faeces detection conductors 3 and 4. This highresistance conductor 28 connects linearly the expanded portions 3 b and4 b of the conductors 3 and 4. According to this structure, a voltage isapplied between the terminals 3 a and 4 a of the paired conductors 3 and4 to thereby pass the electric current to the conductors 3 and 4 for thefaeces detection. In this detection, when a current of a predeterminedamount passes, it is judged that no disconnection is present on theconductors 3 and 4, and on the contrary, when the current of notpredetermined amount passes, it is judged that the excrement detectionsensor is considered to be defective, and is exchanged with a normalproduct.

Further, in this third second embodiment, the same reference numeralsare added to members or elements corresponding to those in the first orsecond embodiment and duplicated explanation is omitted herein.

Fourth Embodiment

In an excrement detection sensor 29 of this fourth embodiment, as shownin FIGS. 8 and 9, the coating body 7, to which the urine introductionports 8 and the faeces introduction ports 9 are formed, is formed as alamination body of printed ink layers. More specifically, the laminationbody of the coating body 7 includes three printing ink layers 7 a, 7 band 7 c such that a first solvent resist ink layer 7 a is printed on theconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the high resistance conductor 14 of thecircuit portion which have already been printed, an urine resist inklayer 7 b is printed on the first layer 7 a, and a second solvent resistink layer 7 c is printed further on the second layer 7 b. In theprinting operations of the respective layers 7 a, 7 b and 7 c, the urineintroduction ports 8 and the faeces introduction ports 9 aresimultaneously formed.

Polyester resin ink will be used as the solvent resist ink, and as theurine resist ink, there will be used urethane combined ink of polyesterpolyal and isocyanate, or UV hardened resin ink.

In the case of application of such excrement detection sensor 29 to thediaper, since the conductors 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the high resistanceconductor 14 3 are protected by the coating body 7 consisting of themulti-layer structure of the printing ink layers 7 a to 7 c, theintrusion of the urine from the urine resist ink layer 7 b into theconductors 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the high resistance conductor 14 can beprevented. Accordingly, the conductors 1 to 4 and the high resistanceconductor 14 at the circuit portion can be also prevented from changingin the resistance values thereof. As a result, urination can be properlydetected at a plurality of times, and the excrement receiver 17 and thediaper can be used for the plural urinations. The invasion of thesolvent component of the urine resist ink layer 7 b into the circuitportion can be shut off by the first solvent resist ink layer 7 a, andthe invasion on the side opposite to the circuit portion can be alsoshut off by the second solvent resist ink layer 7 c.

Further, in this fourth embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9, the same referencenumerals are added to members or elements corresponding to those in thefirst to third embodiments and duplicated explanation is omitted herein.

Fifth Embodiment

In the excrement detection sensor of the fifth embodiment, therespective conductors 1 to 4 and 14 in the first to fourth embodimentsare printed with a conductive ink including only conductive carbon asconductive substance. Accordingly, the conductors 1 to 4 and 14 exhibithigh resistance against urine component, and hence, the variation of theresistance value can be suppressed. As a result, in the case when suchexcrement detection sensor is applied to the diaper, the urination canbe properly detected in plural times.

It is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to thedescribed embodiments and many other changes and modifications may bemade without departing from the scopes of the appended claims. Forexample, although the urine introduction ports and the faecesintroduction ports in the first to fifth embodiments are provided forthe coating body, these ports may be formed to the carrier body insteadof the coating body. In addition, the coating body is formed with theprinting ink layers, but it may be formed with a film member as like asthe carrier body.

1. An excrement detection sensor comprising: two pairs of conductorsextending in parallel with each other; a carrier body on which theconductors are formed; and a coating body covering the conductors withthe conductors being disposed between the carrier body and the coatingbody, wherein either one of the carrier body and the coating body isformed with urine introduction ports correlating at least one pair ofconductors and faeces introduction ports correlating another one pair ofconductors, in which when urine enters into the urine introductionports, the one pair of the conductors are short-circuited and whenfaeces enters into the faeces introduction ports, the another one pairof conductors are short-circuited.
 2. The excrement detection sensoraccording to claim 1, wherein either one or another pair of conductorsare connected through a high resistance conductor having a resistancelarger than that of the paired conductors.
 3. The excrement detectionsensor according to claim 1, wherein the conductors are printed on thecarrier body, and the coating body is printed so as to cover the printedconductors.
 4. The excrement detection sensor according to claim 1,wherein an urine passing hole is formed so as to penetrate the carrierbody and the coating body.
 5. The excrement detection sensor accordingto claim 1, wherein the conductors are printed with conductive inkincluding conductive carbon.
 6. The excrement detection sensor accordingto claim 5, wherein the conductors are printed with conductive inkincluding conductive carbon of an amount larger than that included inthe conductive ink of the high resistance conductor.
 7. The excrementdetection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the carrier body orcoating body formed with the urine introduction ports is formed as alamination body composed of printing ink layers including at least onelayer formed of urine resist ink.
 8. The excrement detection sensoraccording to claim 7, wherein the lamination body includes at least onelayer of solvent resist ink disposed between the urine resist ink layerand the conductors.
 9. The excrement detection sensor according to claim7, wherein the urine resist ink is an urethane combined ink of polyesterpolyal and isocyanate or a UV hardened resin ink.
 10. The excrementdetection sensor according to claim 8, wherein the solvent resist ink ispolyester resin ink.
 11. The excrement detection sensor according toclaim 1, wherein the conductors are printed with conductive inkincluding only of conductive carbon as conductive material.
 12. Theexcrement detection sensor according to claim 2, wherein the conductorsare printed on the carrier body, and the coating body is printed so asto cover the printed conductors.
 13. The excrement detection sensoraccording to claim 2, wherein the conductors are printed with conductiveink including conductive carbon.
 14. The excrement detection sensoraccording to claim 13, wherein the conductors are printed withconductive ink including conductive carbon of an amount larger than thatincluded in the conductive ink of the high resistance conductor.
 15. Theexcrement detection sensor according to claim 2, wherein the conductorsare printed with conductive ink including only of conductive carbon asconductive material.